Effect of Prayer Along With Meditation V/S Meditation on Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Well-Being: A Comparative Study

A comparative study was made to see the effect of Prayer along with meditation and the effect of Meditation (verbal chanting of ‘OM’) on Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Well-being of 130 female university students in the age range of 18 to 24 years. The sample of the study consisted of 65 students in Group I (Prayer along with Meditation) and 65 students in Group II (Only Meditation). The daily practice time of intervention was 30 minutes in Group I (15 min. for Prayer and 15-20 min. for Meditation) and 15-20 minutes in Group II for 30 days. Pre- Post data was recorded before and after intervention in both groups. A significant difference was found between the pre and post scores of emotional intelligence (Z =6.34, p < .01 in Group I and Z= 4.50, p <.01 in Group II). A significant difference was also found between the pre and post scores of psychological well-being, (Z =4.43, p < .01 in Group I). In Group II, Z value for psychological wellbeing was found to be 1.94 that is not significant even at .05 level. So, there is a significant positive effect of prayer along with meditation on emotional intelligence and psychological well-being. It was also found that there is a significant positive effect of meditation on emotional intelligence but no significant effect was found on psychological wellbeing.